Halfway through the month of October and things are picking up for me.

I booked a Caribbean cruise for hubby and I for the new year. Yeah!
I've been researching and day dreaming about this cruise for a long time. Finally found a price that I couldn't pass up. I put a deposit and have a month to pay it off. We are calling it our Valentine Cruise! We had been traveling in November to celebrate our anniversary but that wasn't possible this year.

I have to recommend the boards and forum at www.cruisecritic.com . There is a wealth of information there about cruise ships, the cruiselines and activities on board. Anything and everything you ever wanted to know about cruises can be found there.

Hubby paid for the airfare. Yeah! It's my birthday, anniversary, Christmas and Valentines gift. LOL.
Hubby insisted we travel a day early. He is concerned about missing the boat. He also didn't want to fly into Fort Lauderdale which was the cheaper airport. sigh! So I found  a direct flight from SFO to Miami. My concern about flying is comfort. Hubby is well over 6 foot 6 inches and he needs legroom. We aren't in a position at this time in our life to afford first class tickets but I have learned to upgrade to the "premium" seats which have a little bit more leg room.

Check out the website www.seatguru.com for recommendations about what seats are good. You have to know what type of aircraft you are flying on but when the make a reservation online it will show what type of plane the flight is.

Next on my list was getting a hotel and transportation to and from the port.
The cruiseline had some pre and post cruise hotel packages. I had booked through an agency and they said I could add the hotel. Since hubby and I would be in Miami for 24 hours before and a night after I thought it would be nice to visit or stay in the South Beach area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Beach

Bottom line. It's expensive. Cruise line wanted a total of $685 for one day pre and one day post cruise including transportation to and from port. It didn't include transportation from airport.
So I looked up same hotel online. Hotels in the South Beach area start at $325 a night and go up. Marriot was about $550 a night.  Sigh!

It might be possible to stay one night in South Beach, either before or after but not both. I'll have to look into that. Anyway, I did find a small hotel, the Hyatt Place near the airport in Doral area which will pick us up at airport, and transport  us to the cruise port and includes buffet breakfast for $179 night. The hotel will also pick us up after the cruise for $12 pp. I have points for the Hyatt so I can get one of the two nights we need FREE!. So this is the deal we are going with. I guess after we get there, we can figure out how to visit South Beach if we even feel like it. After the cruise we will probably be so tired or broke that we won't want to do anything but get on the flight home.

The only thing left to do is pack. I start packing the moment a trip is booked and have begun sorting through my closet already and considering options. I've finally figured out that the best thing to do is pack everything that I want to. When I went to Hawaii two years ago, I had a huge suitcase set out that I began packing months in advance. As the trip approached, hubby decided he didn't want to wait for luggage so we had to use carryon size duffle. So, I cut down on what I wanted to take and ended up not having half of what I wanted or needed to wear.

Next trip was the cruise and again I didn't take everything I wanted. I had most of what I wanted but there was a little set that I didn't take that I wished I had. So now even though I am 4 months out, I am carefully considering what I would like to take. Initially, I wasn't going to buy anything but that idea has gone out the window.

I've found this great website called www.polyvore.com where you can put together collages of items. Making collages is one of my all time favorite activities. It's really easy and fun. The collages can resemble magazine layouts and I am using them as dream boards and packing lists.
See some of my layouts below or on polyvore.


Now that I have gotten the cruise details under way and Thanksgiving is handled. We are going to visit my mother in law and daughter.

I'm making my Christmas shopping lists and plans for Christmas. Yeah!